Fire fighting apparatus



Aug. 30, I L c MOORE FIRE FIGHTING APPARATUS Filed April 8, 1950 INVENTOR L C- M 0 or 6 BY -9 .-m:-

ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 30, 1932 LOYAL G. MOORE, OF SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA FIRE FIGHTING APPARATUS Application filed April: 8,

1 This inventionrelates to fire fighting ape paratus, and particularly to one especially useful in combating blind fires such as-those in basements of stores and other buildings.

5 As is well recognized a blind fire is the most dangerous and hardest to control of any and isthe principal cause of life and property damage, and many firemen are overcome by smoke origas fumes and frequently lose their lives in fighting such fires, even sometimes in those cases where they areequipped with gas masks or oxygen helmets.

.In order to cope with blind fires many things have been devised, among which are the gas masks and oxygen helmets. While theseaccessories are very valuable in assisting firemen to penetrate and locate such a fire they cannot remove the cause of their use (smoke andqgases). fSmoke and gases are the worst enemy -a fireman has to contend with in combating most fires, especially a blindfire. i A blindfire canbe defined as any fire originating from any source that cannot be seen 'or its seat located, and which gives forth much smoke and quantities of gases. Some blind fires send forth smoke so black and. dense that much valuable time is lost in trying to vpenetratethrough the same in an attempt to locate the seat of the fire. Such blind fires u'suallyoccur in basements and cellars where large stocks of merchandise are stored, or where piles of trash have been allowed to accumulate. Most of these fires are fought by the drowning out method. The basement is flooded but in so doing the stock of merchandise 'is damaged if not e11 tirely ruined.

The principalobject of my invention is toprovide a valuable aid in locatingandcombating such fires by the provision of an apparatus which will create a strong suction or draft from the confined area in which the fire is located, to the exterior of the building. This draftwill draw the smoke and gases away from said area so that the firemen may approachfrom the opposite direction in relatively clear air in comparative safety and without theuse of masks or helmets. They can thus better locate the seat ofthe fire and 1930. Serial No. 442,704.

combatthe same under relatively good work- 1ng conditions, and with the use of a mini mum of water or other extinguishing means. Whenever a fire breaks forth its tendency 1s always upward. By the use of my improved apparatus such tendency will be counteracted and the fire will be drawn down and away from the ceiling by the tremendous suction of the propeller or fan of the apparatus. This of course helps to keep the flames from burning their way upward and the firemen can enter, locate and extinguish the fire before much damage has been done.

The apparatus will therefore remove the obstacle that now keeps firemen at bay and which sometimes defies their every effort to enter the building. The apparatus will be themeans of saving the lives of firemen as well as the lives of tenants of the upper floors, by helping to confine the fire to the lower floors or basement. It will also help to pre vent a fire from going upward through elevator shafts or light wells. If the fire has already started to burn its way upward and has taken a hold of the ceiling timbers the apparatus will draw the fire away and downward and tend to check the same from burning any further by reason of the strong flow of fresh air coming down from above. It will therefore reverse the ordinary direction of progress of the fire and will make unnecessary in many instances the venting of the roof by breaking the glass in the skylights or cutting holes in the roof. Finally by facilitating the work of the firemen in allowing them to move with safety and dispatch in locating a fire, this apparatus will be the means of lessening the appalling loss of life and will curtail the tremendous loss of property by permitting firemen some- 0 times to extinguish fires with chemicals, whereas the procedure of flooding with water would otherwise be necessary.

A further object of the'invention is to produce a simple and effective apparatus and yet one which will beexceedingly efiective for the purpose for which it is designed.

These objects I accomplish-by means of such structure and relative arrangement of prises two separate units.

parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claims.

In the drawing similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views:

Fig. l is a side view partly in section of my improved apparatus shown as in operative position in connection. with a basement fire.

Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the apparatus. 1

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of the hood unit partly folded. 7

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawing the" apparatus for convenience of handling com- One, unit com prises a portable body or enclosure 1 supported on legs 2; handles 1a being provided on thesides ofthe body'to enable the unit to be easilyv moved about and otherwise manipulated. A gas engine of suitable character such as the type commonly used in airplane work and indicated at 3 is enclosed the body and is connected to a large air propeller or suction fan 4: which is disposed on a horizontal axis at one end of and outside the body. The necessary accessories. to the operation of the gas engine so as to make the same a complete unitary power plant, are of course mounted within the body as well as v the engine itself. The legs are preferably provided with casters 5 so that the unit may be easilymoved along the ground into or outof position. V

The casters are swivelly mounted on the legs for vertical movement relative thereto and are connected to a suitable raising and lowering mechanism such as that indicated at 6. a This mechanism is so arranged the casters can be easily adjusted, with one operation, to

either support the unit or to be disposed so that the legs will rest directly on the ground and the unit will be thus relatively immovable and steady. i

l The other unit comprises a hood adapted to rest on the groundand to completely envelop the first unitin clearance relation thereto to such an extent as to provide a passage of considerable size between the hood and power unit all about the same. This hood comprises a plurality ofvertical longitudinally spaced bows 7connected by folding braces 8. One of the endmost bows has a plurality of other bows 9 pivotally connected thereto in common with and intermediate the ends of said bow 7, so as to form a fan-like arrangement when unfolded; other horizontal vertically spaced bows 10 being disposedin alinement with and below the lowest one of the bows 9. A collapsible cover 11 of suitable fabric, such as asbestos, extends between and covers all the bows, being of course suitably secured thereto .so that the bows and cover form a nonseparable unit. The bow arrangement as a whole is such that the hood will be freely open only at one end and along the bottom, the ground forming the closure for the bottom. This bow arrangement also permits the bows 10 to be raised and relatively collapsed without affecting the bows 7 and 9, and of course the corresponding portion of the cover, for the purpose which will now be seen.

For the purpose of illustrating one of the major uses to which my apparatus may be put I have'shown a fire 12 as being located in a store basement 13 which as usual has trap doors in the sidewalk which, when raised, provide opening 14 of considerable size which communicates with the basement. The apparatus is transported to the scene of the fire in a suitable vehicle and is then unloaded andthe units separately placed in position. The suction fan unit is placed first, being disposed in the street so that the'fan faces the building and in alinement with the opening 14, the doors of which are opened. .To prevent possible advancing movement of the unit when the fan is in operation I mount adjustable anchor bars on the legs of'the unit which'abut against the. curb or other rigid projection. The hood is then unfolded and placed over the. fan unit and also over the sidewalk opening. The size of the hood is such as to be considerably longer and wider than the. fanunit and so as to be at least as wide as any standard trap-door opening. The hoodisplaced so that its open end is at the outer end of the fan unit or faces away from the building its closed end being disposed over the opening 14. The verticalmovement of the bows 10, which are at said closed end of the -hood, provide for the necessary difference in height between the street on which the main portion of the hood rests and'the sidewalk level, which is'the level of the opening 14 and of the adjacent portion of the hood. This enables the hood to have a substantially air-tight fit with the supporting face about the opening and all along the bottom. This adjustable hood construction also enables the same to be effectively used in connection with the basement openings of residences, which are very often disposed on a slope.

An air passage from thestreet to the basement is therefore formed in which the suction fan is interposed. The fan is of course arranged to draw air out of the basement and is as powerful as possible. The action of the fan therefore, as will be obvious, draws smoke and gases away from the fire and causes the airthus drawn away from the fire to be replaced by fresh, air from other openings in the building behind and above the fire. This draft will offset the tendency of the fire to rise, with the advantages outlined in the preamble of the specification, and will of course facilitate the work of the firemen. e

If the opening through which the draft is to be drawn is vertically disposed the hood would be reversed in position so that its open vertical end would cover the opening; the opposite end being then folded up to the necessary extent to provide an outlet opening at said end. It is to'be understood that the actual construction of the units may be altered to a considerable extent to suit conditions of operation as experience may determine to be beneficial or necessary; the main feature of my invention being the creation of a strong draft away from the seat of a blind fire and outwardly of the building for the purposes previously set forth.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I have produced such an apparatus as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the apparatus, still in practice such deviations from such apparatus may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus for combating a fire confined in a relatively closed area having an opening to the atmosphere comprising a portable open-ended air passage unit arranged to rest on a solid surface in surrounding relationship to the opening and to extend some distance beyond the same, and a separate portable unit smaller than and placeable within the hood beyond the opening, said last named unit having a driven suction fan arranged to create a draft in the direction of the outer end of the passage.

2. Apparatus for use in withdrawing smoke and gases from an enclosed fire area comprising a portable suction device adapted to be positioned adjacent a substantially horizontally disposed opening into the fire area, and a separate portable hood open at one end and along its bottom and closed at the other end whereby such hood may be positioned over and enclosing the suction device and opening so that the action of the suction device will pull the smoke and gases through the opening from the fire area and discharge the same out the open end of the hood.

3. Apparatus for use in withdrawing smoke and gases from an enclosed fire area comprising a hood open at one end and along its bottom and closed at its other end, the hood adjacent its closed end being vertically adjustable whereby the bottom edge of the hood adjacent such closed end may be fitted about an opening in a different horizontal plane from that on which the hood proper is positioned, and means to create a ventilating draft through the hood.

4. Apparatus for use in withdrawing smoke and gases from an enclosed fire area 

